Gale's Feelings About Katniss
by katie4cheer
Summary: These are mainly about what i think Gale and Katniss talk about in the woods, and the adventures they share. Mostly in Gale's POV, it shows what i think his true feelings are for Katniss and what i think SHOULD'VE happened .
1. The Morning Rituals

GALE'S POV

I lean against our usual meeting spot, a flat and oval-ish boulder that sits near the edge of a cliff that looks over the woods. I spread the goods out on the huge rock: a fish that was caught in our net just this morning, some berries I found on my way to the meeting spot, and a big slice of warm bread that my mother made this morning. I breathed in the fresh morning air and waited for Katniss.

She strolled into the small clearing carrying something behind her back. Katniss had a huge grin on her face, a rare oddity I usually only see on special occasions. I furrow my brows and ask her with a smile, "What's with the grin? Did they strike gold in the coal mines?" I know this could never happen because, well, it's not possible, and… it's just not possible. Who heard of the poorest district suddenly becoming one of the richest just over night?

Katniss sat next to me, her tanned and toned legs just barely an inch from mine. God, she's so beautiful. I'm so happy I get to hunt with her _every day_. Katniss held up two squirrels by their tails, an arrow sticking both of them through their tiny necks.

"Two squirrels with one shot!" Katniss gushed. "They were crouched down, eating something off the ground, and I was just aiming for the first one, but it went through the entire first one and through the second!" I smiled.

"That's great Katniss! Do you want to keep them, trade them with the baker since he loves them, or trade them at the Hob?" I ask. She sets the squirrels on the boulder, puts her hands in her lap, and stares at the forest before her. This is what I love about Katniss. She can be an experienced and trained hunter, but then she goes being all nice and girly and it's so… cute.

Suddenly she turns to me and says, "Well, I think we could sell one at the Hob…" she says carefully, "And then we could trade the other one to the baker?" I nod, split the berries and bread between us, and we eat.

In between mouthfuls, I ask, "Want to sell the fish at the Hob this morning, too?" And this time it's Katniss's turn to nod.

After we finish eating, we set our poles up at the lake, set some snares, then we trek to the baker's house, which is closest. Katniss and I crouch behind the apple tree that grows behind the baker's house. We wait for the witch (aka, the baker's wife) to leave the house and go to the market for the daily flour. Once we see her walk down the dirt road, we spring into action and jump swiftly over the fence.

I look up. Ah-ha. The baker's son, like I suspected. He usually watches for us each morning, and he always watches me when I'm with Katniss. I think he likes her. The baker's son, Peeta, I think, disappears from the window. The loser.

I go to the back door and knock. Katniss is standing next to me, holding the dead squirrels. The arrow is still through their necks, because otherwise, bugs could get in the hole and blood could start leaking so it's best to leave it in as long as possible.

The baker answers the door. He is wiping his doughy hands on a stained cloth, which he then stuffs in a pocket in his powdery white apron. "Gale, Katniss, how nice it is to see you!" the baker exclaims. "What do you have for me today?"

I motion to Katniss and her squirrels. "Katniss shot 2 squirrels this morning. Care for one?" I say, as Katniss holds up the squirrels and nods. The baker looks pleased.

"One? Could I have both?" he asks, "I could pay you double." Katniss's eyes widen and look at me. I nod, and Katniss agrees.

"Great!" he says, and ushers us indoors. The room is hot from the ovens, and flour almost coats the floor. Peeta quickly looks up at Katniss before continuing to grind corn, most likely for corn bread.

The baker disappears into the front of the shop, where he goes to grab some bread for trade. Katniss and I make ourselves comfortable on a bench near the pantry. We talk about the Hob, the meadow, and other things we could make money off of while Katniss works the arrows out of the squirrels necks.. I sneak a peek of Peeta. He looks jealous, and also like he doesn't know what some of the things we're talking about are. Well, no surprise there. Mr. Rich Boy with all his bread and food and warm house wouldn't know what the Hob is.

The baker comes back in with 3 big loaves of steaming bread. My mouth started watering. Katniss handed him the squirrels and tucked the arrow in her holder as I took the bread. The baker led us to the back door and I said to Katniss, "Check our poles and snares? I have to talk to the baker. Meet you at the Hob?" She nodded and hopped the fence with ease.

I turned and leaned on the doorframe, one hand holding the fish and bread and the other hand in my pocket. I could feel Peeta watching me as I made polite conversation with his father.

PEETA'S POV

I despise him. So much. Hate him, really. Jealous, envious, angry at him. Why did he have to hang out with Katniss so much? He has good looks. His black, glossy, whooshy hair. His perfectly-aligned, bleach-white smile. His year round tan skin. His lean body. His confident, assuring, almost cocky personality. And his smoky grey eyes that sometimes sparkle in the sunlight. Not that I'm gay. I'm not. But _come on_. He could have _any girl_ he wants! Why does he need Katniss? Sure, she's probably the most beautiful girl I have ever seen, but what about all the other girls that flirt with Gale? The girls who "drop" their books, giggle with their friends, point and stare and him, touch his arm when talking to him, and batting their eyelashes whenever he walks by in the school hallway. Why him?


	2. The Hob

GALE'S POV

"Well, nice seeing you, Mr. Mellark. Oh, yeah, and thanks for the bread," I said as I waved the baker goodbye. I could see his son, Peeta, glaring daggers at me from further in the house. Ha.

I jump the fence and make my way to the Hob. The Hob is a run-down coal mine that just never made it off the ground. Hardly any coal was found there, and it has been abandoned since. Well, that's what _some_ District 12 residents think. Really, it's a thriving black market.

I walk the beat-down path that weeds threaten to take over, to the rusty iron fence. I crawl through a hole somebody has cut, into the yard of the abandoned coal mines. The mines are off to my right, the opening to the mines closed off. Actually, not closed off. It just looks all boarded up, but really there is a couple loose boards that people could shift to get into the mines and hide from the Peacemakers, if the Peacemakers ever found the black market.

The coal mining building, itself, is pretty stable. The rusty metal roof is brown-ish red, and peeling. The old wood walls have random holes about the rotting, paint-peeling, stained surface. The door sputters open as I walk in, the door sometimes getting stuck in the mud and weeds on the ground. I greet Katniss by the sluice (old rectangular wooden boxes that water would fill up in for miners to sift through), which is close to the door but not too far into the Hob. She smiles.

"Guess what we caught in the snares?" Katniss asked. She was bouncing and shifting from foot to foot so I knew it was something good. I raised an eye brow.

"Rabbits?" I guess. Katniss sighed.

"Well, _yes_. Don't we always catch rabbits? But guess what else!" Katniss replied, growing impatient.

I laughed and said, "I don't know, Katniss. I give up." Katniss holds up a bobcat from behind her back. My eyes widen.

"A bobcat! We haven't caught one of those since… since I first met you." We both smile at the memory: Katniss saying her name so quietly that I thought it was Catnip. Then once a bobcat started following Katniss around, and she had to kill it because it was scaring the prey, Catnip became my nickname for Katniss. "Come on, Catnip, lets go see what Rob has for us," I say, motioning to her.

Rob, an elderly man with a balding head, was behind the old-fashioned counter, helping another customer. This room used to be the saloon for the miners, and the shelves that once held booze and beers now holds the different items that Rob is willing to trade with you. A ladder with wheels sits in the corner, that helps Rob when he needs to reach a tall shelf.

I look around the homely-feeling room: a big old stained couch that is starting to rip, a dusty fireplace that's only lit on cloudy or foggy winter days, and high tables and stools for customers wanting to trade their goods with other people and not Rob. There are only about 25 more people in the room, which is kind of empty for a warm summer morning.

"What can I do you guys for?" Rob asks us. Katniss and I set our 2 fish, one bobcat, and 3 rabbits on the counter. We are saving 3 more fish and 2 more rabbits for trading at our table (each customer gets their own table for trading after they have traded a certain amount of items with Rob). Rob nods and smiles, looking over the merchandise. He rubs his hands together.

"How does a kit of medicinal herbs sound for the bobcat, Katniss?" Rob asks. Katniss beams.

"Sure! That'd be great." So Rob gets the ladder and climbs to the 14th shelf (the higher an item is placed on the shelves, the higher it's going to cost) to grab a first-aid-looking kid, with a big drawing of a green leaf in it. But then when he's climbing down, he grabs another smaller white box, too. On the front of this one, it has a drawing of a bowl and spoon. Hmm.

He puts the boxes on the counter, flips them open, then he turns them to show them to me and Katniss. "The medicinal herbs box has specially collected herbs of the best quality: yarrow, wormwood, sweet sagewort, rue, marijuana, hawthorn, chamomile, feverfew, poppy seeds, peppermint, pokeweed, and blue mountain sage. It also comes with a stone pestle and mortar for grinding up the herbs into paste," Rob recited. He shuts the case and starts talking about the other white box.

"This one is for basic cooking. I figured I should get you a box for the bobcat's pelt and meat. Anyway, here's the cooking spices this one has: allspice, aniseed, basil, bay leaf, caraway seed, cayenne pepper, celery seed, chervil, chili powder, chives, cilantro, cinnamon, cloves, coriander, cumin, curry powder, dill, fennel, garlic, ginger, juniper berries, mace, marjoram, mint, mustard, nutmeg, oregano, paprika, parsley, rosemary, saffron, sage, savory, and others. This case also has salt, pepper, lard, butter, and a bit of flour and yeast," Rob listed. "Interested?"

Katniss's eyes were huge. "I'll take it!" she exclaimed. She slid the bobcat over to Rob and took the boxes. I smiled. Katniss looked so happy… And she's beautiful when she's happy.

"Now what can I get you, Gale?" Rob asked me.

"Well, what do you want?" I asked back.

"I will take the 3 rabbits for… Hmm… A squirrel call, and a bird call? These two inventors in District 6 invented calls for calling animals. What do you say?" Rob offered. I grinned and nodded. Rob reached under the counter (where all the just-came-in items are) and pulled out two whistle-shaped objects with the picture of a squirrel on one and a deer on the other.

"You see," Rob explained, "You just whistle into one of these, and in a little while, the animal should wander by. You interested?" I nodded, and traded the rabbits for the calls, which I stuck in my pockets.

"Now what about the 2 fish?" I ask. Rob scratches his chin.

"Your mother is a seamstress, right?" he asks, and I nod. "Well, we have another one of those white cases for sewing…"

"I'll take it!" I agree, and Rob goes up the ladder again to get a white box with a needle and spool of thread on it. He opens it up, and shows me the contents.

"20 sharpened needles along with spools of thread, thread 5 yards long wrapped up on one spool. The thread comes in colors of red, green, blue, orange, yellow, purple, navy, white, black, brown, pink, gray, tan, and a new color: clear," Rob rattled off. I smiled.

"Deal!" we swapped merchandise.

"Thanks, Rob!" Katniss called as we walked off to our table, where I took the key from the string around my neck. I slipped the key into a lock on the table top, and opened a compartment. This is where Katniss and I can keep our merchandise we want to sell locked up, without having to sell it right away or leave it in the open.


	3. The Kiss

GALE'S POV

Katniss and I set up our little table/shop in the Hob. We make most of our money this way. Here's the look of our little table: four tall legs, a square top that has been stained and scratched over the years, and three tall stools (one for me, one for Katniss, and one for a customer taking too long to make up his mind). That's pretty much it.

Katniss and I lay our goods on the table along with the 2 rabbits and 3 fish left over: 3 dresses my mother knitted, 2 pairs of pants my mother put patches on, a deerskin Katniss tanned, various medicines Katniss's mother whipped up and put in stone cups, a pint of Prim's goat's milk, and a hair comb I had chiseled out of stone.

TIME PASSES

We did a lot better than I thought we would! We sold the goat milk, 2 rabbits, 3 fish, a couple medicines, 2 of our dresses, and a pair of pants. In total, we have 70 silver coins! Katniss and I split the money and pack up the merchandise we didn't sell. I lock the compartment and hook the key back on my necklace.

Katniss and I walk out of the Hob, calling goodbye to Rob and other regular customers we know. On our way through the fence, Katniss cries out and holds her knee. Now, she's sitting on the forest floor just outside the Hob's fence.

"Katniss, you okay?" I ask her, worry in my voice. She lets go of her knee, and winces. A bloody gash about 2½ inches oozes blood. My eyes widen.

"Go… back to the Hob and get some medicine… that my mom made," Katniss says through winces. Then she laughs harshly and says, "God, this stings. Anyway, get the green-ish paste in the white stone cup, just a finger-scoop worth, and it will stop the tetanus." I look at the rusty fence. _Crap_, tetanus. I nod.

"I'll be right back, Katniss. Don't worry!" I call, already halfway to the Hob. I dash inside, rustle through our secret compartment, scoop the medicine on my finger, lock it, and run back.

I crawl through the fence, but Katniss isn't there.

"Katniss? Katniss?" I call, balancing the green goo on my index finger. Then I hear moaning in the bushes. I jump through the brush and see Katniss.

"Katniss!" I say, at her side in a second. I decide to rid myself of the goo, though, so I rub it on her knee. Her bottom half of her leg twitches once, so I guess it stung.

I put my hand on Katniss's forehead. My hand moves backwards, into her hair. A bump. A big one, at that. That's when I notice a couple silver coins spilled out of her pocket. Huh?

I put my hand in her pocket. Empty, except for those two coins. I check her other pocket. Empty. Somebody must have attacked Katniss, stole the money, and dragged her over here. A rush of anger comes over me. Why Katniss? Why her? She did nothing. _Nothing _to deserve being attacked.

I have to get her out of here. I pocket her two coins (I will give them back, but I want to hold them for her), and I stand into a crouch. I slide my right arm under her shoulders, and my left arm under her knees. I lift Katniss up.

She is surprisingly light. Well, not too surprising. She's always been really short and thin - petite. Her head rests against my chest, and her flowing hair cascades down my stomach. I kiss the top of her head, and notice the warm glow off her skin.

All of a sudden, Katniss's head tilts back, her thick eyelashes flutter open into a squint, and she whispers, "Gale?" I smile and kiss her forehead, just before her head collapses against my chest.

I finally get back to our meeting place, and I gently lay Katniss down in front of the boulder. I don't want to leave her head just laying on the ground, so I take off my shirt, bunch it up, and slide it under her head. She sighs softly, but makes no other noise or movement. Now I sigh. Why won't she wake up?

I take a deerskin canteen of water from a hole in our boulder and pour some in my hand. I pat Katniss's cheeks with my wet hand, and her eyes flutter open. Again, she asks, "Gabe?"

I wipe my hand dry on my pants and I brush some hair from her eyes. She blinks. "Gabe," she says, "What happened?"

I grab her hand and reply, "You scratched your knee on the fence near the Hob. I went to get some medicine for it, and when I get back, you were gone. I found you in the bushes with a huge bump on your head. Your money was gone exce-"

"My money is _gone_?!" Katniss interrupts. She lets go of my hand to quickly sit up, but she winces and holds her head and lays back down.

"What's wrong?" I ask, concerned. She just shakes her head, and holds my hand again.

"Head-rush, I guess," she explains, "But is my money really _gone_?" Her eyes well up.

"Katniss, Katniss," I rush to explain, "You only had two coins next to your pocket. Somebody must have seen you looking vulnerable and taken advantage of that." She gently shakes her head and checks her pocket just to find it empty. Katniss swears under her breath.

"I'll give you half the silver coins I have…" I start digging in my pocket, but Katniss stops me by putting her hand on my bare chest. Oh… right. I don't have my shirt on. Her smooth, cool hand all of a sudden seems very small compared to, well, _my_ hands. I take my hand out of my pocket and slowly take her hand off my chest into my fist. Now I'm holding both of her hands in mine. I lean in and gently kiss her.

Her lips are warm and soft. I noses are barely touching, and my shaggy black hair brushes against her cheeks. I start to pull away, but she pulls one of her hands out from mine and intertwines it with the hair at the back of my head, pulling me in for a longer kiss.


	4. Sleep

GALE'S POV

Katniss and I finally break away from our kiss, my lips tingling. I see Katniss wet her lips with her tongue and I smile. She blushes.

It's about sunset now, and we are still deep in the woods. I tell Katniss this, and she tries to sit up. "_Ah_," she winces. I gently push her back down onto my balled-up shirt.

"Katniss," I ask, "My house is closer than your house. Think it would be okay if you sleep over? It will be dark soon…" Katniss nods.

"I don't think I can walk. And by the time you carry me all the way to my house, it will definitely be dark," she answers. So I put my arms around Katniss to pick her up, and she's quivering.

"Katniss? Are you cold, or are you hurting?" I ask her. She shakes her head.

"I'm cold, I guess. But it's okay," she assures me. Still, I un-ball my shirt and button it onto her, over her own shirt. Her eyes look guilty.

"Are you sure you won't be cold yourself?" Katniss asks. I shake my head no and pick her up. My whole body still feels warm and tingly from her kiss. She rests her head on my chest and we walk (actually, _I_ walk, but whatever) to the electric fence in silence.

I listen for the hum of the fence. Nothing. I set Katniss on the ground so I could crawl under when I hear the hum starting up. I yank myself back. Crap. We have electric for the evening hours, when the nocturnal creatures start waking up. I sit next to Katniss by a huge tree trunk. How are we going to get past the fence?

I see a little boy walking by on the other side of the fence.

"Hey! Hey!" I call to him. He looks at me.

"Do you know where the Everdeens' house is?" I ask. He nods.

"I know where everybody's houses are. The Rubafellas, the Traparaps, not to mention the-" he lists. I roll my eyes.

"Okay, okay. Can you just take a message to the Everdeens' house?" I interrupt. He shakes his head no. I pull a silver coin out of my pocket, and his head shaking quickly turns to head nodding.

"What's the message?" he asks eagerly.

"Tell whoever answers the door not to worry, that Katniss is safe, and that she's with me, Gale," I instruct. The boy sprints off.

In about 10 minutes, he returns.

"A little girl and a goat answered the door. She said 'Oh thank goodness'."

He holds his hand out for the coin and I toss it to him through the fence. He runs off. The fence still hums.

Katniss has been nodding off periodically just for her head to snap up, trying to stay awake. So I put my arm around her shoulders. She immediately leans over and lays her head on my chest. "Go to sleep," I whisper, stroking her hair. Katniss mumbles something I couldn't make out, then she slumps into me and I know she's finally sleeping. Now I wait for the humming of the fence to stop.

TIME PASSES

I'm sitting with one arm around Katniss's shoulders and my other arm around her tiny waist, her body pressed to mine. I listen to the forest sounds: birds calling, frogs croaking, bugs chirping, and the fence… quiet. Quiet! I lift Katniss up, gently, so she's still sleeping, and I near the fence. Yup, no humming.

I set Katniss down right next to the fence, so I can grab her from the other side. I crawl under, still listening for humming in case it would turn on, and I slide Katniss towards me. I work her through the hole on the fence, and we made it. Finally! By now it is about 10 pm, but there is a full moon so I can still see pretty good.

Katniss and I are the only ones on the street. It's so dark and empty that I hardly recognize the town - but still good enough to find my house. I shift Katniss so that her legs are around my waist and her arms are around my neck so I could hold her with one arm. I bend down to grab the key under the mat and I unlock the front door.

I shut the door behind me and I carry Katniss to my room. I set her down on my bed, trying not to wake her, and I tuck the covers over her. But her arms are wrapped tightly around my neck. She opens her eyes.

"Don't leave me, okay?" Katniss asks groggily. I nod, and unhook her arms from me. I get dressed in my pajamas (just boxers and socks) and slide into my bed next to her.

Immediately Katniss scoots next to me and buries her head in my neck. I wrap my arms around her shoulders, like in a hug; our feet are tangled together. We fall asleep together.


	5. The Meadow

KATNISS'S POV

I wake up and see Gale standing over his clothing drawer, looking for something to wear. Gale, who's wearing nothing but socks and boxers. I bite my lip and blush, thinking of how close he was to me last night wearing nothing but that.

But - Gale and I are just friends, right? Nothing more… wait, right? He _did_ kiss me… God, this is confusing. But he _does_ look really hot right now, what with his tan skin and whooshy black hair. In fact, from here I can see arm muscles. Has he had those before? I lean over a bit to get a better view. Whoa, he has major stomach muscles, too. He turns around just as I'm staring and he smiles at me. I shake out of my trance and smile back.

I decide to sit up. It takes a bit of struggle, but my headache is gone from yesterday. I throw my feet over the bed onto the floor and I stand up. Next thing I know, I'm falling for the floor.

GALE'S POV

I'm looking for something nice to wear since I'll be around Katniss pretty much this whole day when I hear her start to wake up. I turn around and smile at her. Good, she's sitting up. She smiles back at me and stands up. Wow, she's actually stan - _crap, _falling!

I jump and grab her just before she hits the floor. I cradle her in my arms and look in her wet eyes.

"Katniss, are you okay?" I ask. She gives a small chuckle.

"I just feel like a huge idiot. But I'm fine… Thanks to you," she smiles shyly and gently kisses me on the cheek.

My cheek starts tingling crazily once she pulls away, so I lean in and kiss her. Katniss sitting on my lap, my arms around her waist, her hands in my hair… it's perfect. We pull apart and just sit, me rubbing her back while Katniss is curled up, periodically kissing my neck and jaw.

Eventually I stand up, with Katniss in my arms. "Can you walk?" I ask her.

She winces. "Not really… I could hardly stand up just earlier. My knee is way too sore." Katniss frowns. "But I can try again!" she exclaims.

I smile and slowly lower her to the floor. Katniss's arms are still around my neck, and my arms are around her waist, supporting her. She steps on her healthy leg and gently tries to take a step on her injured leg. She almost collapses, but I hold her up. Katniss tries to wipe a single tear from her eye without me seeing, even though I do see, but I don't say anything. Katniss is too proud like that, so she hates being vulnerable and weak like this. I scoop her back up in my arms.

"Well, Miss Katniss Everdeen, it looks like I will have to be your personal slave today," I joke, kissing her cheek. She smiles back and we go to eat breakfast.

TIME PASSES

"_Moooom_," Katniss complains. "You have made me try a hundred medicines today!"

I'm in Katniss's bedroom with Katniss laying on the bed, me sitting at her feet, and her mother and Prim and an arm-full of medicines. Empty stone pots half-filled with difference medicines are scattered about the room.

"I know, honey," replies Katniss's mom, "But just try a couple more. We want your knee to get better!"

"And it will _get_ better with just rest!" Katniss protested.

"Just a couple!" exclaimed Prim. Katniss hesitated. She couldn't ignore Prim.

"_Fine_," Katniss sulked, crossing her arms. I smile at Katniss. She can't help but smile back.

Her mother pulls back the covers and rolls up Katniss's pant leg. The cut is now completely of dried blood. Her mom rubs a cream on the injury. Katniss winces. Eventually Prim and her mother leave the room. I scoot closer to Katniss.

"Do you want to go outside? Get out of this stuffy room?" I ask. Katniss throws the covers off and opens her arms for me to pick her up. I laugh and carry her outside.

"Where are we going?" she giggles.

"The meadow," I say as I walk down a beaten path. We emerge in a large clearing with a big pond in the center. To the left is a huge field with a rainbow-colored assortment of blooming flowers. To the right are a dozen rabbits hopping from bush to bush. It's a beautiful place where birds are chirping, the sun is glittering off the pond water, and butterflies flit from flower to flower. I set Katniss down in a patch of soft and springy grass. I sit next to her. We sit quietly, watching the meadow, until Katniss breaks the silence.

"So, um, what was, uh, yesterday about?" Katniss asks shyly, playing with the buttons of my shirt that she's still wearing. Oh. She must mean what was with the kiss. Well…

"Well…" I begin. How can I say this? I grab her hand.

"I've always loved you, I just never thought you liked me back. Yesterday I was just feeling more courageous, so I… went for it," I smile shyly.

"I always thought you were extremely handsome since when I first saw you," Katniss giggled and blushed. I smile and kiss her on the forehead.

Katniss blushes again but then she jumps on me, her hands on my shoulders and her lips on my lips. I'm taken by surprise so it takes me a while until I finally put my hands on the small of her back. With my arms not supporting me, we fall backwards into the meadow grasses, but everything seems like it's going in slow motion. Katniss is laying on top of me, her hair blocking everything else from my face, and her hands move from my shoulders to cupping my jaw. We spend what seems like forever just lying in the summer sun, kissing, and not paying attention to who was walking into the meadow…


	6. Love Me, Love Me Not

**Author's Note: Thanks everybody for your awesome reviews! Special thanks to those of you who have left multiple comments, telling me to continue! You know who you are! :)**

KATNISS'S POV

Eventually Gale and I break away, but only because we have an unexpected visitor. Gale sits up, taking me with him. We look at the boy, who is staring at us with those ice blue eyes…

Peeta.

Crap. Peeta, the boy with the bread. Peeta, who gave me hope. Peeta… who's heart I've just broken.

Everybody knows he likes me. Heck, _I _even knew. But he never said anything, so I started having doubts…

I come back from my thoughts when I hear the pounding of Gales heart, right next to my ear. I feel my pulsing heart, too. That was a kiss beyond words, but… Peeta…

He runs off. I slump into Gale's chest, tears filling my eyes. Don't I love Gale? I do, of course, but when I saw Peeta, I don't know. Do I love Peeta? No. He never made a move, not like Gale. But then again…

GALE'S POV

My head is spinning, my pulse is thumping, my lips are moving. Until, Katniss and I hear a noise. I break away, reluctantly, and I sit up. Katniss, who was practically sitting on my chest, falls into my lap. Then I see him: Peeta.

What is Baker Boy doing in the middle of the woods? And he totally ruined our moment! Jeez… I look at Katniss. What? Is she crying? Why's she crying? I stroke her hair.

"You okay?" I ask. She nods.

"Can we just go home?" she half-whispers. Dang. Stupid Peeta. Totally ruining our moment.

TIME PASSES

I'm in the woods, half-hunting and half just wandering around and thinking. All I'm thinking of is stupid Peeta. Stupid, stupid, stupid. He does like her. It's so very obvious. But couldn't he back off? I slump to the bottom of a tree trunk and absent-mindedly start carving Katniss's initials above my head. Then I notice what I'm doing. Ah, well. I finish the carving.

Peeta crashes through the brush, tripping over my right ankle.

"Ow! Jeez! Watch where you're going!" I exclaim, holding my throbbing ankle. Peeta kneels, picking up some blueberries that had fallen out of his basket. I don't make a move to help him.

"What are you doing here?" I ask. He squints at me, his arm out to pick up a berry.

"What does it _look_ like?" he says harshly, "I'm collecting blueberries for muffins." His eyes move to above my head. Crap, the carving. I stand up, blocking Katniss's initials. But not before Peeta saw it.

"K.E.?" Peeta asks, his expression blank, but I can tell he's hurting on the inside, "As in Katniss Everdeen?" I nod slowly.

"Yeah. So?" I ask, getting defensive. Something about Peeta makes me like that.

He shrugs. "You guys seem perfect for each other," Peeta says, speaking in monotone. I roll my eyes, even though I'm flattered (-ish).

"Come on, I know you don't feel that way. You love Katniss," I point out. We stare at each other, and I have absolutely no idea what Peeta is thinking, since he's keeping his face blank.

"I know. But there's no chance of her liking me back. I saw you guys kissing in the meadow," Peeta swallows hard. I chuckle.

"I know, I was there. But if you really like Katniss that much, why didn't you say anything?" I ask. Peeta stands up and looks at me.

"I don't know. I guess I'd never have a chance. I'm older than her, after all, and you're, like, her best friend. I could never compete with you," Peeta confesses. I flick my hair out of my eyes and smile.

"Well, you'll never know until you ask her. But you won't want to tell her now, right, since she has me?" I say more as a statement. I wink and leave Peeta staring after me.

PEETA'S POV

Was that a threat? It doesn't matter.

"Well, Gale, looks like we're going to have to make _Katniss_ chose who she likes better," I whisper, partially to myself.


	7. Hunting

GALE'S POV

Katniss says she was ready to go hunting again today, so I'm helping her get to the woods. Her arms are clinging to my waist and my right arm is around her. She says it's kind of painful to limp on her sore leg, so I'm trying to help her as much as I can while still letting her practice walking.

When we get to the hole in the fence, I climb through first, and then I hold her hands while she crawls under. Then when we're walking to our meeting spot, I lift her over fallen trees and carry her over small streams. Katniss is starting to get really frustrated with her leg, so whenever I see her eyes welling up in frustration I gently kiss her temple, and she smiles again.

True, we're probably scaring off all the prey, but who cares. To be honest, my hands are all over her. On her hips, shoulders, stomach, sometimes even her legs when I'm hoisting her over an obstacle. And Katniss doesn't even mind. _So take that, Peeta,_ I think.

At a hollow log, Katniss bends down and retrieves her bow and arrows.

"The only way I can hunt is if we split up. I'm scaring away all your prey, so I should just wait and see if I can shoot something from a tree," she says. Katniss walks to a tree, and I see her initials carved into the base of the tree. What if she sees?

But she doesn't; it's too far down. Katniss tries to reach for the lowest branch, but she can't reach it. She would be able to reach it if she jumped, but jumping would hurt her knee. I walk up to her and lift her up, my hands on her waist. Katniss reaches the branch, and hoists herself up. When she turns around, I see her face, and she's blushing. I wink at her and say, "I'll check on you every now and then. Be careful." Katniss nods. So I walk off to check our snares, fishing poles, nets, and traps.

TIME PASSES

I'm walking back to check on Katniss when I see somebody else talking to her. What? I duck behind a bush to listen.

"You should come check it out sometime. Maybe I could pick you up?" he asks. There's a pause.

"Yeah… Maybe," Katniss says. She sounds like she's smiling. Another pause. Then I hear a kiss. I peer from behind the tree, angrily, and see Peeta (Peeta!) holding Katniss's hand with his lips pressed to it. Peeta releases her hand and winks at Katniss. She blushes and giggles, and Peeta walks away. I wait a while to go "check" on Katniss, even though I know exactly how she is.

"Hey," I say, walking into the clearing. "Hey," she says back, messing with a dead raccoon, trying to get the arrow from its eye socket.

"Nice catch," I say.

"Thanks," she replies. We stand there awkwardly. Does she know I saw everything?

"What did you get?" Katniss asks. I hold up 2 rabbits and 4 fish. She nods. Then we stand around awkwardly some more.

"Okay, I'm just going to cut to the chase-" I start to say when Katniss interrupts me.

"I shot the raccoon and was just climbing down to get it when Peeta came walking by and then he started talking to me. He was talking about the fair that is going to be happening in The Square tomorrow afternoon and he wanted to invite me but I didn't really want to go because of my knee and all…," Katniss said quickly. I take her in my arms and give her a hug.

"It's okay, Katniss. You can go to the fair if you want to…" I say, secretly wishing she wouldn't go.

But instead she gushes, "Oh, really? I've always really wanted to go, but before I've always been so busy with having to hunt and take care of Prim that I never really could. Thanks, Gale!" Katniss hugs me tightly.

Even with the hug, I feel depressed. Why does Katniss want to go to the fair with Peeta?

"I know we will hardly be able to hunt tomorrow with the fair, but-" Katniss says.

"What? _We_?" I ask.

"Yeah. Or don't you want to go with me?" Katniss asks, hurt in her eyes.

"Of course I do! I just thought you meant you wanted to go with Peeta…" I explain. Katniss shoos the thought away with a wave of her hand.

"I would feel too weird letting Peeta help me limp around The Square," Katniss giggles. I feel relief shoot through my body. Katniss wants _me_, not Peeta. Ha. I smile.

So Katniss and I walk off through the woods, my arm around her waist, and Katniss clinging to my stomach.


	8. The Fair

**GALE'S POV**

**I arrive at Katniss's house, picking her up for the fair. I knock on the door and Prim answers.**

"**Peeta!" Prim exclaims, hugging me.**

"**Hey, Prim," I smile, picking her up and twirling her around. "You coming to the fair today?"**

"**Not with you," she says, "But I'm going with Mom. Katniss says she just wants it to be just you and her." **

"**PRIM!" Katniss shouts from inside. I laugh. Then Katniss comes to stand in the doorway. She looks so beautiful; there are no words to explain how beautiful she is. She's wearing a short, strapless dress probably from her mom, but still. Her long, tan legs show off green flats, with gold ribbon criss-crossing across the shoe. Her deep collarbone (partially from hunger, partially from just being thin) holds a rare gold necklace, just a thin string, but it, but it matches the shoes, gold bracelets, and gold hoops earrings. Katniss's cheeks had been brought out with rosy blush, and eyes brought out with mascara on her already huge eyelashes. Not to mention her hair. Her hair: intricately curled into glossy-looking curls that bob when she moves her head. I start to feel not that dressed up in my black ironed pants, plain white long-sleeved shirt, and loose black tie. I flick my recently-washed hair off my face. Smells like soap.**

"**Hey," Katniss says. I'm still in shock from her beauty, so it takes me a while to finally say "hi".**

"**H-hi," I stutter. Katniss giggles. I take her hand and gently kiss it. Katniss blushes, and hooks her arm through mine. We walk off and Katniss is telling me how all of this is her mother's old clothes when we hear Prim shouting.**

"**Are you guys going out!?" Prim asks loudly. Katniss spins around and points for the house.**

"**GO INSIDE, PRIM!" Katniss shouts. Prim giggle-screams and runs inside. I laugh. Katniss looks at me, embarrassed. I just smile and we go on walking.**

**At The Square outside town hall, there are stalls lining the streets and entertainers scattered on the road. The stage in the center has a band playing some oldies music like Lady GaGa, Paramore, T.I., All American Rejects, and other bands from over a century ago. Streamers go back and forth over the street, almost lacing the buildings together. Almost everybody is here: all the shop-owners, seniors, parents, kids, teens, hobos… everybody. And around The Square are random screens, showing what was happening at the stage, so the music could be played everywhere at once.**

**Katniss points to a mime and giggle-drags me with her over to the show. Seems like Katniss's leg is getting better. She no longer needs that much help to walk; all she does is limp now. I smile at Katniss, watching her laugh with other people watching the mimes.**

**TIME PASSES**

**Katniss and I have been to caricature artists, fortune tellers, dance-offs (although we didn't participate), and just browsing all the stalls. Finally we get to the stage and the dance floor. **

"**Care to dance?" I ask Katniss, my hand out to her. She smiles and places her hand in my palm. I lead her to the dance floor, where we start dancing to the slow song that's playing. Katniss, tired of limping, starts shuffling her feet, so I lift her up. I place her feet on top of my feet, and we dance together; my hands on the small of her back and her hands on my shoulders. Katniss and I dance, her head resting on my chest, while we listen to the lyrics of my favorite oldie's song, I Don't Want to Miss a Thing by Aerosmith:**

_**Don't want to close my eyes.I don't want to fall asleep,Cause I'd miss you I don't want to miss a thing.'Cause even when I dream of you,The sweetest dream will ne-e-ever do.I'd still miss you baby,And I don't want to miss a thi-i-ing.**_

**I start dancing slower, and I lift up Katniss's chin so she's looking at me. I kiss her, my hand still on her chin. I can feel Katniss smiling in the kiss. Eventually we pull apart, and I see an identical image of us on the big screen behind the band on the stage. **

"**Katniss, look," I whisper in her ear, pointing to the screen. Katniss steps off my feet, turns, sees the screen, and turns back to me and smiles. A couple people around us start chanting "kiss, kiss, kiss, kiss!" and so even though we just did, Katniss stands on tip-toe and kisses me. The crowd cheers. I cradle her warm jaw in my hands, and the lyrics blare in my head:**

_**I don't want to miss one smile,I don't want to miss one kiss.I just want to be with you,Right here with you, just like this.I just want to hold you close,Feel your heart so close to just stay here in this moment,For all the rest of ti-i-ime.**_

**We break away as the next song starts playing: 1, 2, 3, 4 (I Love You) by the Plain White T's. We start dancing again until I feel a tap on my shoulder. I turn around.**

**Peeta. "May I cut in?" he asks. I glare at him, then I step away from Katniss. Peeta starts slow-dancing with her as I start feeling green with envy. Or jealousy? I don't know, and it doesn't really matter because I'm too angry. Peeta must have seen us on the screens so he rushed right over to steal her away from me. At least they aren't on the screen anymore, so Prim and her mom won't see Katniss with another guy than me. I wonder if they saw the kiss…**

**I'm standing against a fence, waiting for the song to be over, all during which like 20 girls ask me to dance with them. I say no and apologize. After what seems like an eternity, the song ends and Peeta returns Katniss to me. We glare at each other as Katniss moves back to my side. **

"**Could you get us some water, Katniss?" I ask her, still staring at Peeta. **

"**Uh, sure," she replies, walking off.**

**KATNISS'S POV**

**I walk away, confused. Isn't the boy supposed to get the drinks? Oh well, it doesn't matter. The air between Peeta and Gale was so tense, you could cut it with a knife. **

**As I'm walking back with the water for me and Gale, I hear Peeta and Gale talking. I duck behind a decorative shrub to eavesdrop. **

"**I told you to stay away from Katniss," Gale hissed, "She likes me, remember?"**

"**Well you told me to tell her how I felt about her, remember?" Peeta growled.**_** Crap**_**.**

"**I meant you should have told her **_**before**_** we got together. Now you're just trying to stir up trouble," Gale accused. **

"**Oh, **_**I'm **_**stirring up trouble? Fine! Meet me by the tree that you carved Katniss's initials into, right after the fair," Peeta countered. **

**Oh. My. Gosh! Are they going to **_**fight**_** over me? I gotta stop them! But where's the tree where Gale carved my initials into? That part gives me a warm, tingly feeling inside. I can't believe he actually did that. It's cheesy, yes, but oh so sweet.**

**Soon it gets quiet, which means that Peeta is gone, so I can come back with the water.**


	9. The Fight

KATNISS'S POV

Gale walks me to my front door and kisses my forehead.

"See you for hunting tomorrow morning?" he asks. I nod and step inside.

"See you tomorrow," I say. I watch him walk to the dirt road, and we wave goodbye. I shut the front door, then dash to my shared bedroom. I open my window, preparing to climb out when Prim walks in.

"Gale and Katniss sitting in a tree. K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" she sings. I wince. She saw that? Then she sees what I'm doing, "What are you doing?? Sneaking out?" I shake my head.

"Not _sneaking_. Just trying to get out of the house without Gale seeing me. I'll be back soon!" I reply, jumping out the window, and chasing quietly after Gale. He climbs under the fence, and after a while, so do I. I follow him through the woods, but with me limping, so he gets pretty far ahead. I hear some far-away talking, but I can't make out the words. Crap! They're there already!

I start running, but I trip over a tree root. Dang it! I hurry to get up and I start running again. I burst into a small clearing just in time to see Peeta shove Gale to the ground at my feet. Gale has cuts on his face and his shirt is ripped in places. Then Gale jumps up and shoves Peeta into a tree. Gale punches Peeta in the stomach, causing Peeta to hunch over. Peeta's face only has a couple scratches on it, but his shirt is all but completely torn up. I'm too shocked to say anything.

Then when Peeta punches Gale in the jaw, causing Gale to stammer backwards, I start screaming. "Stop, stop! Stop it, guys!" I scream. Tears are welling in my eyes, threatening to pour over. Gale lunges for Peeta, but I jump and grab Gale's right arm. "Stop! No! Stop!" I whimper. I start crying. Everything blurs with tears. I try to wipe the tears away, but they keep coming. I slump to the ground, trying to stop my head from pounding so much.

I can hear Gale and Peeta shove each other a bit while I'm sitting on the ground in a sobbing, sniffling ball. Soon it gets quiet, like Peeta and Gale are watching me cry.

All of a sudden, I feel their arms around me. Peeta is rubbing my back, and Gale is holding my hand and stroking my hair. I slowly stop crying to where it got just to small sniffles, and they were both saying sorry to me. Their voices sounded really sincere, and almost like they were sad to see me cry.

"I-I'm sorry," Peeta whispers in my ear, and he gently kisses my cheek. Peeta walks away into the woods.

Gale walks up to me and helps me up. I get dizzy from the crying headache, and Gale steadies me. He picks me up and we walk in silence. I'm resting my head on his chest, sniffing any last sniffles and trying to stop my headache.

We're just a small distance away from the fence when Gale and I hear a faint growling coming from ahead of us, in the bushes. Gale freezes in his steps, and I cling to him in fear. We don't even have any weapons!

Gale slowly steps over to the nearest tree, and whispers in my ear, "Climb as high as you can. I'll try to follow you." Gale lifts me to the first tree branch, while still keeping his eyes on the bushes in front of us. After I'm hanging from the branch, Gale starts climbing in a branch right next to me.

The growl gets louder, and I start whimpering because I can't get a grip on the next branch. Usually I'm great at climbing trees, but I'm so nervous that my hands are shaking and sweating.

GALE'S POV

The growling is getting louder, and Katniss is still on the first branch. I'm standing over her, trying to coax her into hurrying up. I try to grab her hand to help her up, but I can't because I'd have to lean over so far that I might fall down with her.

Then the growling stops, and we think we're safe until a huge bobcat jumps out of the brush at Katniss.

Katniss screams, and adrenaline courses through my body. The bobcat bites and holds on to the hem of Katniss's dress.

"I'm slipping!" screams Katniss. I jump to a branch right next to Katniss, hang by my arms, and in one swift motion, I kick the bobcat right in it's side. The bobcat flies into the bushes and hisses. I climb back into the tree and pull Katniss up with me.

We're standing on the same branch, and Katniss is in my arms. I'm rubbing her back and stroking her hair.

"It almost got you, there, Catnip," I whisper in her ear. Katniss gives a small giggle and then a sniff.

"Think it's safe to go down?" Katniss asks, and we look down. The bobcat is circling the tree. Katniss clung to me tighter.

"Let's climb higher," I suggest, and we start climbing.


	10. Waterfall

GALE'S POV

Katniss and I are sitting on a high branch in the tree, waiting for the bobcat to walk away. Katniss is sleeping, her head on my shoulder, and my arm is around her waist so she won't fall. The moon is shining through the branches, illuminating Katniss's face. She's so pretty. Even though her curls are almost flattened, her eyes are swollen from crying, and her dress is ripped and soiled, she's still beautiful. In fact, my mom could probably repair her dress… I look down. The bobcat is finally walking away. But we better wait a while to be sure it's gone.

TIME PASSES

"Katniss… Katniss, wake up," I nudge her. She blinks groggily, and looks down. "It's gone?" she asks. I nod, and climb down to the next branch to help Katniss down the tree. Several times her dress got caught on the branches.

Once we were finally on the ground, Katniss exclaimed, "Freaking dress!" Then I see her start to take her dress off, so I turn around, blushing. I hear Katniss laughing. "It's fine… You can turn around," she says.

I turn around, nervous, but see that she's wearing green shorts and a white strapless shirt. The dress is over her arm. "I got tired of tripping and getting stuck in it," she laughs. I smile, put my hand on the small of her back, and walk her through the woods. Katniss looks over her shoulder, often, though.

On her porch, her mother opens the door and asks, "Where were you?!"

Katniss explained everything, but I'm happy she didn't say much about the fight. That would have been embarrassing. I just couldn't help it; I mean, it's Katniss. I couldn't let _Peeta_ have her. Blech.

Katniss's mom sees my injuries on my face and winces. She waves me inside. "We have something for that," her mom assures. Her mother reaches in a cabinet and gets a bowl of something and hands it to Katniss. "Put that on Gale, would you? Prim and I are going to sleep."

Katniss grabs my hand and pulls me to the couch. She opens the lid to reveal an almost transparent-type goo. She takes a scoop on her finger, sticks her tongue out in concentration, and wipes it on a cut. Katniss rubs it in. I almost wince, but I'm determined to look strong in front of Katniss.

When she's done, Katniss gets up to put away the bowl, then when she's walking back, I pull her into my lap. She looks at me in confusion, but she's smiling. I kiss her.

"Thanks," I say, "You know, my mom could fix up your dress." Katniss looks at the dress, then back at me, her eyebrows raised.

"That would be a big job," she laughs. I chuckle.

"She could do it," I offer. Katniss bites her lip.

"I'd feel like I owe her something," Katniss hesitates. I sigh, but I understand that Katniss absolutely _detests_ owing anybody anything. But then I get an idea.

"You could give me a tiny jar of that medicine for later…" I say. Katniss nods, and gets me the medicine. I stand up with the medicine and the dress. Katniss walks me to the door, where I kiss her on the cheek. She blushes.

TIME PASSES

I arrive at Katniss's house the next day with her dress. She opens the door, and hugs me tightly. She breaks apart, a huge smile on her face.

"How'd she finish it?" Katniss gushes, feeling the dress. I shrug.

"Last night when I got home, she told me she was having trouble sleeping, so when I told her about your dress, she was happy for the project and finished it," I say, handing Katniss the dress. She invites me in.

"Did you know that Emily and Emerson Edenhart found a _waterfall_?" Katniss asks me, draping the dress over a chair. I shake my head.

"A waterfall? Where?" I ask.

Katniss waves her hand to her right, "Somewhere by the lake, upriver. Emily and Emerson are having a bunch of us from school meet by the trail to the lake so we can all go swimming. Wanna come?" she asks.

"Sure! When are we meeting?" I ask.

"Uh, like right now," Katniss smiles, "I was just going to change into my swim suit. Wait here?" And with that, Katniss runs into her room and shuts the door. I sit on the couch to wait.

In a couple minutes, Katniss comes out with a large shirt presumably over her swim suit. "Ready?" I nod and we walk to my house. After I'm in my trunks with a shirt on too, we walk to the trail to the lake. Wow. A bunch of people from school are here. Katniss and I split up to talk to our friends. My friends, Jake and Sam, see me watching Katniss.

"Excited to see Katniss in her swim suit for the first time?" Jake asks, reading my mind. I just kind of chuckle.

"I guess," I say truthfully. Jake and Sam both know I've had a crush on Katniss for the longest time.

"HEY!" yells Emily to get attention. But a couple guys trying to act funny shout back "heyyy", and everybody laughs. Emily taps her foot. "READY FOR SWIMMING?" Everybody cheers. "THIS WAY!" And everybody starts to follow Emily and Emerson.

Jake, Sam, and I talk about girls, school, and our families for the whole ½ hour it takes us to walk there. When we get to a curtain of vines, Emerson shouts, "READY TO SEE THE WATERFALL?" And everybody cheers again. Emily and Emerson take the vines and pull them aside.

A misting waterfall pours from a cliff, churning into crystal-clear waters. Tiny fish swim in the water, none of the fish over just an inch or two long. Boulders heat up in the sun, and on the other side of the waterfall is a huge cliff, most likely to be used for cliff-jumping. A large cave sits between the waterfall and the cliff, with a couple more vines hanging over the entrance.

"Better yet, the water is 70 degrees Fahrenheit in the summer, and 80 degrees Fahrenheit in the winter, so it's always the perfect temperature for a swim!" Emerson announces. Everybody runs for the blissful clearing, and me and my friends claim a boulder by the water. We peel off our shirts as I watch Katniss with her friends. Katniss takes her shirt off to reveal a bleach-white bikini that shows off her tanned skin. A thousand thoughts run through my head, namely inappropriate ones. Katniss looks at me and smiles. I smile back. Jake and Sam start nudging me and laughing, so I jokingly shove them away and dive in the water.

After swimming for a couple hours, me and my friends sat on our huge boulder and laid in the sun, watching some people swimming. Often times girls swam by, trying to flirt, but we ignored them. We all had our eyes on another girl, namely all of Katniss's friends, which was kind of weird, but was kind of cool. I like Katniss, Jake likes Katniss's friend Hanna, and Sam likes Katniss's friend Amber.

"READY?" shouts a girl from the top of the cliff. It's Amber. She's holding hands with Hanna and Katniss. All the girls run for the edge of the cliff, and me and my friends stand up in worry. The girls jump, screaming, and plummet for the water. Splash! They reappear on the surface, giggling and laughing. My friends nudge me, motioning to the cliff, and we run up there to jump off, too. We're standing by the edge of the woods so we will have lots of room to run and jump when we hear some people walking up behind us.


	11. The Cave

GALE'S POV

Sam, Jake, and I turn around slowly. The girls jump out of the bushes at us and scream. We stumble back. Amber, Katniss, and Hanna start laughing.

"Are you cliff-jumping?" Katniss asks, looking at me, but Sam answers.

"Yeah! Are you jumping again?" he asks. Amber giggles and nods. It's obvious that Amber is a huge flirt.

"Let's go then, guys!" Jake exclaims. Hanna rushes up and grabs his hand, blushing. All of us holding hands in a line, it goes: Jake, Hanna, me, Katniss, Sam, and Amber. We back up to the trees, count to three, and run.

Katniss squeezes my hand hard, and we jump off the cliff. Everything seems to go in slow motion, and the cheers from people below fill my ears. We fall through a thick layer of waterfall mist, and then we hit the water. Everybody immediately lets go of each other's hands as we fight to get to the top. One by one, we each emerge at the top.

"Hey, where's Sam?" I ask. Everybody looks around, but because of all the bubbles from us jumping in, nobody can see down below. Then Amber screams. Sam had emerged from underwater, with Amber sitting on his shoulders.

"CHICKEN FIGHT!" Sam shouts, a huge grin on his face. Katniss and I look at each other, and she smiles. I hold my nose and go underwater. Once Katniss climbs on my shoulders, I stand back up. I flick by dripping hair out of my eyes. Hanna is on Jake's shoulders.

"Let's _do_ it!" Jake exclaims. Katniss, Amber, and Hanna can hardly stay on our shoulders since they're laughing too hard. People on the shore bet on who's going to win.

"I'll bet anything that Katniss wins," I hear from the shore. This makes me smile. Hanna shoves Amber off of Sam, and Amber floats back up, laughing. But while Hanna was celebrating her small victory, I run Katniss over to Jake, and Katniss pushes Hanna off him.

"Whoo!" Katniss shouts, "We won!"

"Yeah, Katniss!" I cheer. She laughs. "Anybody wanna face us?" I yell, smiling. Katniss laughs again.

For the next hour, Katniss and I battle it out against multiple people from our school. We were going undefeated until we faced Thor and Tammy. Thor is HUGE, and Tammy is his sister-- muscular and ripped just like him. Obviously, we lose to them, but it was still fun.

I duck underwater and Katniss climbs off. We run back to our friends' boulders, which are right next to each other. Katniss and I dry off in the sun on the huge rocks.

"Want to go exploring in that cave?" Amber asks, "It's daaark," she adds to Sam, batting her eyelashes. His face blushes, and he says, "_I'm_ all for it. You guys want to?" I look at Katniss, nervous. She looks at me with fear in her eyes. I know that Katniss hates caves. She feels claustrophobic in them, and she thinks that the ceiling will fall in on her. Not to blame her. I used to be afraid of caves, too.

"Sure, we'll go," says Hanna and Jake. Everybody looks at Katniss and me. I look at Katniss. She looks at me.

"Uhhh…" Katniss says. She bites her lip. "I guess we can go," she mumbles. I smile and her and squeeze her hand assuringly as we stand up to go to the cave.

When we get in the cave, I see Katniss starting to shiver. Her hair is still wet, and we're entering a dark, cool cave. I put my arm around her shoulders. She smiles in thanks.

"Let's go farther," Amber giggles, holding Sam's hand. Nobody says anything, just following Amber, while I silently groan in my head. The little transparent cave salamanders gross me out. Not to mention that I still have a small fear of claustrophobia from when I was little.

"Uh, I think this is far enough," Hanna warns. We can hardly see the entrance anymore.

"No, my father was a cave explorer. I _think_ I know what I'm doing," Amber insists. Katniss and I slow down as we start to move into pitch blackness.

"Uhhh, Amber?" Katniss asks, her voice wavering, "I think this is good, right? We don't know what's ahead…"

I hear Amber sigh up ahead. "Katniss, are you _scared_? Miss Hunts-All-Day is _scared_?"

"I'm just claustrophobic, and we don't know what's ahead, and it's pitch black…" Katniss defends herself.

"Katniss! I _know_ what I'm _doing_," Amber persists. I start to get angry.

"Amber? It is pitch _black_. Do you seriously think you know where you're going? What if there's a huge pit just five feet in front of us? Just because your father was an explorer doesn't mean you are. You could be risking _all_ of our lives! Face it: you have no idea what you're doing!" I defend Katniss, my voice echoing in the cave. Nobody says anything. Katniss puts her arms around my waist and hugs me. I give her a quick hug back.

"_Fine_," Amber replies, her voice icy, "_You_ guys go back. _I'm _going ahead."

"Fine," I say. Katniss and I turn around and start walking back.

A mist starts spraying from the ceiling. Katniss and I hear a crack. Then a roar. We start running for the exit. I look behind us. A wave of water was pouring from the wall a mere 10 feet behind us. But since I was looking backwards, I trip over a stalagmite. "Ah!" I exclaim, my knee banging against the rock ground. Katniss stops running and tries to tug me up.

A wave of water pours over us, our whole bodies except for our heads are being pounded by tons of water. Katniss and I cling to each other, and Katniss is screaming. I bet these are her nightmares come true.

We run out of the cave and collapse on a boulder out of the way of the rush of water. Katniss is still squeezing my torso.

"Katniss, Katniss, our friends are still inside the cave!" I exclaim. Katniss starts crying.

"A-A-Are they drowning, d-d-do you t-think?" Katniss asks. A crowd has gathered.

"What happened?" people from our school started asking. We tell them.

"We have to d-do s-something," Katniss sobs. I can't stand seeing Katniss cry so I stand up on the boulder and shout for Emily and Emerson. They come forward.

"Is there any other entrance to this cave?" I ask. They nod their heads.

"Where?" I ask, "Because I'm going in."

There's a collective gasp from the crowd, and Katniss stands up and grabs my shoulder.

"Gale! You can't go _in_ there!" Katniss exclaims. I nod.

"I have to. What are our friends going to do?" I ask. Katniss nods and sniffs. Then she grabs my hand.

"Then I'm going to," she says.


	12. Drowning

GALE'S POV

"What?" I ask, although I heard her clearly.

"I said, I'm coming too," Katniss says, squaring her shoulders. I shake my head.

"But, you're afraid of caves," I say, lowering my voice. She shrugs.

"Yeah, but I know you were, too, and I think it's time I get over _my_ fear," she explains. I take a deep breath.

"Okay, fine. So, Emerson, where's the entrance?" I ask. Emerson leads Katniss and me to the other entrance, which is down a weed-ridden path through the woods. Katniss and I are holding hands tightly the whole way there.

I sit on the edge of the 2-feet-in-diameter hole, my legs hanging in. "Ready?" I ask, looking up at Katniss, who's standing up. She nods, and I drop myself 5 feet to the cave floor. Ouch, my ankles. Katniss jumps down behind me. We hold hands again as we walk down a slight decline, shin-deep in water. Soon it gets so deep that we're up to our hips. We're holding hands over the water. My hand is almost going numb from the super-tight grip Katniss has on me.

Once we are stomach-deep, I say to Katniss, "Don't worry, I'll be right back. I'm going under." I let go of Katniss's hand, go underwater, and open my eyes. Through the crystal-clear water, I can see a small hole through which I can see our friends' legs treading water! I re-surface.

"Katniss! Our friends are right through this hole we have to swim under. Stay here, I'm swimming under," I explain, and take a deep breath. I'm just ready to go under when Katniss puts her hand on my shoulder.

"No, I'm coming with. You can't leave me," Katniss says, her voice tight. I look her in the eyes, and she holds my gaze. I can see she isn't backing down. I sigh.

"Ready, then?" I ask. We take a deep breath, and we swim through the hole, me leading her. We surface on the other side. But, there's only a foot of air left to breathe. I look at Katniss, and her eyes are wide and full of fear.

"Katniss! Gale!" Amber shrieks.

"Oh thank goodness," Hanna whimpers. "Look, there's a hole underwater that you have to swim through, and if you get through it, stand up and walk up the incline. Emily and Emerson will be calling your names," I instruct. Sam, then Hanna, then Amber, then Jake swim underwater.

"Ready?" I ask Katniss. Now that it's just me and her in this small space, I can hear that her breathing has gotten very shallow with fear. She takes a shaky breath, and we go under. Before we can even reach the hole, Katniss pulls from the grip and re-surfaces. I turn around and follow her.

"Katniss, what's wrong?" I ask her.

"I-I-I c-can't get a d-deep enough b-breath," Katniss replies shakily. I swim over to Katniss and put my hands on her cheeks, which is kind of hard to do while treading water. I kiss her, but only briefly, since she can't hold her breath very long.

"Just take deep breathes, okay?" I encourage her. But the water is up to only 7 inches left of air, and that's making deep breathing difficult for Katniss. With each loud splash of water, she starts breathing shallowly again. We have to tilt our heads at an angle to breathe in air.

"G-Gale, I can't breathe deep enough. I can't hold my breath long enough," Katniss says sadly, "Go ahead and go. I can't risk your life along with mine."

"Katniss. How could you say that? I could never _live_ with myself if you died. You have to try," I say. Katniss closes her eyes and tries deep breathing again. I start to sing to her the song that we danced together to at the fair:

"_I don't want to close my eyes,_

_I don't want to fall asleep, _

_Cause I'd miss you, baby._

_And I don't want to miss a thing._

_Cause even when I dream of you,_

_The sweetest dream will never do._

_I'd still miss you, baby, _

_And I don't want to miss a thing."_

I pause, then finally, "Katniss, we have to go _now_." The water has gotten even higher. But she shakes her head.

"I can't," she whispers. A wave of sadness comes over me. How could I lose Katniss? Wait, I can't. If she drowns here, I will too. But an idea hits me.

"Katniss, what if I clamp my hands over your mouth and nose? There's no way you could breathe in water if my hands are covering your mouth," I say. She smiles.

"That could work," she says. I nod.

"Ready?" we take a deep breath. I pull her towards the hole, and as her air dwindles, I clamp my hand over her nose and mouth. No, I'm not losing her while we're this close. Half way through the hole, she starts fighting for air. Her body shakes and her lips are twitching under my hand. But I hold my hand tightly to her face, and I pull her out of the hole. As I'm swimming for the surface, her body goes limp in my arms. _No_! When I get to the surface, I remove my hand, and wait for her to gasp for air.

She doesn't.

I hold her to my chest and I sprint faster than I ever remember myself running. I get to the exit and hold Katniss up. Some boy from school takes her and lays her on the grass aboveground. I hoist myself up, and sit next to her. I'm patting her cheeks, trying to wake her up.

"She's not breathing," I say quietly, then louder, "We were swimming out when she ran out of air. I put my hand over her mouth and nose so she couldn't breathe in any water, but she fainted from lack of oxygen."

"Anybody know CPR?" people shout through the crowd.

"I watched my mom give my sister CPR when she fainted once, but I'm not sure exactly how to do it…" I say. Nobody says anything until Emerson speaks.

"Well, nobody else has any experience at all, so it looks like you're her man," he says, patting me on the back. I bite my lip.

I hold Katniss's nose and breathe in her mouth. I pulse my hands against her ribs, to get the air out. Then I breathe in her mouth again. Repeat.

Repeat, repeat, repeat.

And repeat.

Still nothing.

I'm starting to cry.

But I try again.

Nothing.


	13. Gale's Cave

**GALE'S POV**

**It feels as if the weight of the world has fallen on my shoulders. Why won't Katniss wake up? I cry openly. I thought the hand thing would work. I mean, she breathed in no water at all. I decide to try CPR one more time. I try to choke back my sobs so I can try CPR again. I breathe in her mouth.**

**I press her ribs. **

**One more time.**

**I breathe in her mouth, and have just moved my lips away from hers when Katniss's eyes fly open, and she starts gasping for air. **

"**Katniss!" I exclaim, and everybody cheers. Katniss starts coughing. **

"**What **_**happened**_**? I thought I was dead," Katniss said smiling. **

"**I thought you were too," I say. She sees my tears and she sits up. Katniss kisses me, and then she climbs into my lap and hugs me. My tear-soaked cheeks are pressed against hers. **

"**Thanks," she whispers in my ear. I smile, but I'm still shaky from crying.**

"**Uh, not to ruin the moment or anything," Sam says, winking at me, "But it **_**is**_** 7:30 and the sun will be completely set soon." Emily and Emerson agree, and start shooing people out of their oasis.**

**I pick up Katniss as we begin to walk home. I'm not losing her again.**

**TIME PASSES**

**The next day, I'm on Katniss's porch. "Hey," she says, standing on her front step with just her pajamas on: a thin spaghetti strap shirt and really short flannel shorts. It **_**was**_** a really hot summer night last night… But I can't help staring at her bare shoulders for a second or two.**

"**Uh, hi," I say, "There's an emergency school meeting thing that they just announced." Katniss's eyebrows shoot up.**

"**Crap! I'm not ready!" she says, ushering me inside while she went up to her room to change.**

**When she comes down, she's in her school uniform: a short red plaid skirt, a white short-sleeved shirt with the school's red logo on it, and a red plaid tie. But the tie looks good on Katniss. Of course, I'm wearing my red plaid baggy shorts (that resemble boxers--the idiot who designed the uniforms…), white shirt with logo, and my red plaid tie. Katniss's hair is really wavy, too, but only because she just took out her braid.**

**At school, Katniss and I find seats somewhere around the middle of the auditorium. The principal takes the stage and taps the microphone. **

"**Ahem. Attention, students: This year, we may not even have school," the principal begins, but is interrupted by a huge explosion of cheering. Katniss and I laugh.**

"**Ahem! I said **_**may**_** not. Depends if our school survives. Anyway, astronomers in the Capitol have detected two huge meteors that have been flung out of the Asteroid Belt. The meteors are expected to collide in about… hmm, 2 hours. A bunch of tiny meteorites are expected to hit Panem during the next three or so days. The meteorites aren't supposed to reach great sizes, but be careful. You can collect a paper telling about meteor safety at the door. Thank you," the principal walks off the stage. Kids start to get up and walk away. **

**As Katniss and I walk outside, we see a large crowd of kids outside. Curiosity gets the best of us, so we push to the middle of the circle. A huge, smoking rock sits half-imbedded in the ground.**

"**Oh my gosh," Katniss says. I look at the safety sheet some teachers handed me. Hmm.**

"**The meteorite shower must have started earlier than they thought," I say. I pull Katniss out of the circle, where it was starting to get dangerous. People were shoving each other on the steaming hot rock, and daring each other to touch it. "The meteor was kind of big… What if another one hit our houses?" **

**Katniss bites her lip, "The paper says that 'A cave or rock overhang can be of protection from meteor showers'. Think Emily or Emerson knows where another cave is?"**

"**Maybe… But **_**I **_**know where a cave is," I say, thinking. I remember back when I was little and my dad showed me a small cave, but the mines. There were four rooms in the small cave, and it was almost like another home. Now and then my little brother and I would go with Dad to camp in the cave for a day or two. But then there was an earthquake, and stalagmites were falling from the ceiling like crazy. That's when my phobia of caves started. But I'm fine with caves now.**

"**What? Where?" Katniss asks. I hold a finger to my lips, signaling that there are too many people around. I hear a gentle whistling sound, and look around. **_**Thunk!**_** A smoking meteorite is imbedded in the ground at my feet.**

"**Crap," I say to Katniss, "Maybe we should start packing for the cave." Katniss nods quickly, eyeing the smoking rock. **

**TIME PASSES**

"**We're almost there," I say, carrying my bags. Katniss, Prim, Katniss's mom, my mom, and Timmy (my little brother, his real name is Tim) are following me to the cave. Timmy doesn't remember where the cave was since he was only 3 at the time, but I remember fine. Our families, since we didn't know how long we would have to stay in the cave, had to pack almost everything: all our food (which isn't very much), all our bedding, most of our clothes, and pretty much everything else we owned besides our furniture.**

"**We're here!" I say, and I brush away some sticks and leaves covering a huge flat rock. Then I take the flat rock and lift it out of the way. A 2-foot-wide entrance to the cave was hidden under the rock. **

"**Let's go!" I exclaim. I drop my bags inside and sit on the edge of the hole. Then I grab a limp tree root dangling from the ceiling of the cave and swing down. I let out a whoop. It's been a long time since I've been in here.**

**I guide Katniss's hands to the root, and she swings down nice and easy. Once everybody else was in the cave, I took a couple of candles from my bag and slipped them into small holes my dad had carved into small ledges throughout the cave. I lit them with the matches I had brought, too, and after I hung oil lamps from roots in the ceiling, the whole cave shone bright.**

**KATNISS'S POV**

**The cave actually looked… roomy. I may get over my fear of caves after all. Anyway, there are four rooms in the cave. They're separated by huge glistening columns of rock, and sheer rock walls. Then there are these huge boulders that look like they have fallen from the ceiling, but the boulders look like furniture. It's really cool! There are small dents in the boulders so it looks like you can just curl up in it. There are also these flattish rocks that look like they could substitute as beds. An old rope hangs between two stalagmites. It looks like it could serve as a… rope for hanging laundry on, maybe? There's also a small pool of water with tiny pebbles in it, and cute little fish are swimming around in it. The water could serve as drinking water if it's boiled clean. Speaking of fire and boiling, a fire pit (remains of ashes and a circle of rocks around it) is in the middle of Room 2. Yes, I already named the rooms. Room 1 has a lot of those "bed" rocks, which means it could serve as a bedroom. Room 2 looks like a kitchen, maybe, since it has the fire pit and the pool, but it also has the laundry rope. But Room 2 also has a shallow pit dug in the corner, and a flat rock which looks like a lid is sitting next to it. The shallow hole would probably cool food like those fancy and expensive refrigerators do. Then Room 3 has a lot of the "curling-up" boulders, so it could be the living room. Room 4 has nothing, really, except stalagmites, stalactites, columns, and other cave formations. This could be fun. **


	14. Stars

KATNISS'S POV

Our families disperse throughout the cave to unpack. I go to Room 1 (the bedroom) first. I put my bags on a flat "bed" rock in the middle of the room.

"I call this as my bed!" I exclaim, not wanting a bed by the wall, where spiders or mice may be crawling. Not that I've seen any, but still. I unpack my bags and lay all my bed sheets on the rock. This boulder will need some _major_ padding if _I'm _going to be sleeping on it. I lay my pajamas on my bed. After I'm done, I go to the kitchen, where the moms are. I see that they've already started the fire.

I tilt the cover off the "fridge" and I place the cool foods in it: the meat, the goat's cheese, and the goat's milk. Wait, did Prim even bring her goat? I hear a distant "bah-h-h" echo off the cave walls, and I smile. I bet that means she brought her scrawny cat, too.

"Where are we putting the dry foods?" I ask Gale's mom.

"Up on that rock shelf," she says, pointing up at several rock shelves carved into the wall. Wow. Gale's dad must have worked _forever_ on some of this. I place the bread, salt, flour, sugar, and yeast on the shelf. There's just a bit of basic supplies left in my bags. I walk to Room 3, which is the living room.

I put the candles, matches, soap, and other things on a shelf above a huge "couch" rock. "Hey," Gale says. I turn around and see him in a dim corner, sitting in a "chair". I smile. "Hi," I walk over to him, "This place is really cool. Did it take your dad a while to build it?" Gale shrugs and motions for me to come closer. I do, and he pulls me into his lap. I lean against him, and place my head on his shoulder. Gale's arms are around my waist.

"I'm not too sure. I was little. But Timmy and I would come here with him, and for hours he would be chiseling away at the rock. We didn't really know what he was doing until later," he explains. I nod. Then we sit there, listening to our siblings and mothers talk.

Finally, Gale's mom calls, "Supper's ready!" Well, she didn't really call. All you have to do is talk a little louder than you normally would, and your voice echoes across the cave. Gale and I get up to go to the kitchen.

I take a deep sniff when I enter. It smells so good. Fresh baked bread, a little squirrel meat, and Prim's goat milk. We huddle around a huge flat rock (our table), and sit on spheres of rock (our stools). We have to eat off the table, but it doesn't really matter. The table _looks_ clean.

TIME PASSES

It's a little past sunset (I can tell by looking up out of the opening in the roof) by the time Gale walks up to me and grabs my hand. "Hey, Katniss, you _have_ to see this," he says, a grin on his face. He's leading me to some part of the cave when I notice I have a fuzzy feeling in my stomach. Gale has held my hand years ago, why am I always getting this feeling when he holds my hand recently?

"Tah-dah!" Gale exclaims, stretching one hand wide, showing me Room 4, the "cave" room. I know the whole cave is a cave, but this room has no carved-in furnishings like the other three rooms. I gasp.

GALE'S POV

Katniss gasps. I smile at her facial expression as she studies the glistening cave features, the dripping stalactites, and the draping ribbons of rock -- a cave feature my dad called "bacon".

I bring Katniss over to a wall covered in hand and foot holds. I let go of Katniss's hand so I can start climbing up. Then I climb onto a ledge near the top of the cave ceiling.

"C'mon," I call down to Katniss. She bites her lip and starts climbing up. I help her onto the ledge, which is about a leg span away from the foot holds. I reach up and move a rock that's been covering another entrance into the cave. By now the stars are coming up, and from the ledge, you can look up through the hole and see the stars.

"Pretty, huh?" I say quietly, watching Katniss. She nods, still looking at the stars. But then she looks at me, and notices I was staring at her. We both look away and blush.

But then Katniss leans against me and rests her head on my shoulder, so I put my arm around her. We sit staring at the stars for a while, then when I feel Katniss starting to breathe deeper, I realize she's starting to go to sleep. I decide it's now or never to tell her about how I really feel about her.

"Katniss, I think I'm in love with you," I say quietly, so it won't echo around the cave. How embarrassing would that be??

But Katniss doesn't say anything. Crap. Is she asleep already?

"I think I love you too," she whispers. I sigh in relief that she heard me, and I'm smiling like an idiot. _She likes me too_.

Katniss turns her head to look up at me. Simultaneously, we slowly reach of each other's lips, and as we make contact, it's as if fireworks exploded in my lips. But not in a painful way. More like a tingling way. This has to be the best kiss yet, even though I've kissed Katniss plenty of times before. We pull apart, gasping for breath, but Katniss moves in to kiss me again. A couple minutes later, we hear giggling from below. Katniss and I break apart and look down. It's Timmy and Prim. They're laughing and pointing up.

"Katniss and Gale sittin' in a tree, K-I-S-S-I-N-G!" they sing. Katniss's whole face turns red with embarrassment. "Shut up!" she hisses. Timmy and Prim run off giggling.

"At least they're getting to know each other," I shrug. Katniss curls up next to me again and kisses me.


	15. Meteor Shower

**Author's Note: In response to a review I got, Chapter 8 is in Gale's POV and then near the end of Chapter 8, it's in Katniss's POV. **

GALE'S POV

I walked Katniss over to our bedroom, where our moms and siblings were already sleeping. We changed into our pajamas (me in my boxers and socks, and Katniss in her spaghetti strap shirt and cotton shorts), and slid into our beds.

"'Night, Gale," Katniss whispered.

"Goodnight, Katniss," I whisper back, a smile on my face.

TIME PASSES

The next morning, Katniss and I were back in the forest, hunting. We were just walking back to the cave when I heard the whistling again. I see a smoking meteorite crash into the bushes a couple yards ahead of us. Several other meteorites follow.

"Meteor shower!" I shout. I grab Katniss's hand and we start running for the cave, which is about 5 minutes away. All around us, meteorites are crashing down around us. Small ones hit our skin, and we flick the burning rock off our sensitive skin. But then a huge meteor crashes into the ground in front of us, and Katniss and I skid to a halt. Dirt and rocks from the inpact shoot into the sky and rain back down on our heads. We put an arm over our heads for protection, even if it isn't much. So Katniss and I drop our meat that we had hunted. We'll be able to catch more later. Still squeezing her hand, we run around the smoking meteor and continue on.

Minute by minute of dodging meteorites, the meteorites grow larger into meteors. And as the meteors grow, Katniss and I are able to hear the screams coming from town. Hopefully everybody's okay. A small meteorite hit's the back of my knee, causing me to buckle over and fall to the ground. Katniss stops, turns around, and tries to help me up. But then she looks up into the sky, screams, and shoves me into the bushes. Katniss jumps into the bushes after me. Another huge meteor crashes into the ground just where I was laying before.

"Hurry, get up!" Katniss screams through the whistling of the meteors. I do get up, and we run for the cave. The entrance is in sight when I see the biggest meteor of all sailing for the ground. I lift the rock covering the entrance up.

"Go, go, get down, get down!" I yell at Katniss, and she jumps into the cave. I jump in after her, and I had just barely laid the rock back over the entrance when we hear a huge "boom" from above. But we aren't safe yet.

"Katniss!" I shout, grabbing her and pulling her close to me. A stalactite fell from the ceiling right where she used to be standing. "Come on!" I drag her over to a dent-type-thing in the wall that my dad carved in for emergencies. Katniss and I crouch in the small hole, watching stalactites, rocks, dirt, and other debris fall from the ceiling as meteor after meteor crash into the ground above.

I scan the cave, looking for our mothers and siblings. There they are. I see Mom and Timmy in one emergency shelter, and Prim and Katniss's mom in another. Another loud "boom" from above causes Katniss to jump. I put my arms around her, and Katniss slumps against me. We huddle in the corner, and wait for the meteors to stop.

TIME PASSES

"Gale, wake up," my mom says, shaking my shoulder. I open my eyes and yawn. Katniss and I were huddled together, sleeping, and my cheek was resting on the top of her head. I quickly get up. I wonder what Mom is thinking about me and Katniss.

I hold my hand out to help Katniss up, and we assess the damage. There's nothing really _damaged_, except there is a lot of depris putting a thick coat over everything. So everybody spreads out and started sweeping the stalactites and stuff off to the edges of the cave.

"Do you want to go back in the woods and see if we can find the animals we shot?" I ask Katniss. She nods.

"I'm ready to get out of this cave," Katniss says enthusiastically. We walk up to the main entrance of the cave, and I climb up the tree root. I try to lift the rock off the entrance, but something from above is keeping the rock from budging.

"This one's stuck," I tell Katniss, and I drop back to the floor. "A meteor must be on top of it." So we walk over to the ledge where Katniss and I watched the stars. I blush at the memory, and peek at Katniss. She's blushing too.

I climb the rock wall and try to lift the other rock lid. It won't budge either. _Crap_. I try to lift it again, but it still won't move. I look down at Katniss. She looks up at me in confusion.

"What's wrong?" she calls up. I hesitate.

"Uh… this door won't open either," I say.

Katniss's face flushes paper-white.


	16. Trapped

GALE'S Pov

Katniss climbs the rock wall with break-neck speed. She's pushing the rock with all her weight (which isn't much), but it still won't budge.

"No, no, no, no, no…" Katniss is murmuring. This has to be a nightmare for her. Just like during the flooding, Katniss is probably freaking out right now. I put my hands on her shoulders and force her to look at me.

"Katniss, it's okay. There's probably another way out. There can't just be two exits to a cave," I reason with her. Katniss nods, and wrings her hands.

"There has to be another exit…" she whispers, thinking it over. I nod.

"Yes, Katniss, yeah. We just have to find it," I say, taking my hands off her shoulders. I help her down the rock wall, and I lead her to the kitchen where everybody else is.

"Um, guys, we have a problem," I begin, "Uh, both exits of the cave is blocked by, I think, meteors from outside. The only way to get out is if we find a new exit." Nobody says anything.

"How much food do we have?" Katniss asks quickly. The moms check the supplies, and Katniss's mom answers.

"Uh, about enough food for all of us for… today and tomorrow," she answers. Katniss's eyes bug out.

"What? How? I thought we had more than that!" Katniss exclaims.

"Okay, I forgot to tell you guys something, but somebody didn't put the fresh meat back in the fridge, so it spoiled," her mom explains. Katniss doesn't say anything.

"I think we should start looking for another exit before it's too late," I propose. So, we split up and start feeling cracks, knocking on walls, and tapping on the floor.

TIME PASSES

Nobody has found anything. However, Katniss has found a suspicious crack in the wall, which she's poking with a stick.

We've been searching all day, and so now, at a little after sunset, I tuck Timmy into bed.

We say our prayers then Timmy asks, "Are we going to die?"

"Timmy! There's no way we're going to die. We're going to find a way out," I say convincingly.

"I don't believe you," he says, "I heard Katniss crying in that one room with the cave stuff."

_Katniss was crying?_

"Timmy, no, we _are_ going to find a way out of here," I say, standing up. He rolls over and falls asleep immediately. Meanwhile, I try to find Katniss. I check Room 4, the cave room, first.

There she is. Katniss is hastily searching a corner surrounded by boulders. She's at the top of the pile, checking the wall.

"Hey," I say, standing at the bottom of all the boulders. She turns around to face me and sits on the boulder.

"Hi," she uttered. I climb up to her boulder and I sit next to her.

"You okay?" I ask. Katniss sighs, and says nothing. Then at the same time, Katniss leans against me and I snake my arm around her waist. She sighs again.

"I don't know. I'm worried we'll never get out of here," she mumbles, her face in my shirt.

"I know, it's okay. We'll get out, Katniss, you'll see," I tell her, and I look up at the cave. There's a pretty good view from here. I see a tiny bat hanging from the ceiling.

"Hey, Katniss. Katniss," I whisper. But she's already asleep. Wow, that was quick. I scoop her in my arms, and stand up. Her arms wind around my neck and hold on. I carefully walk from rock to rock until I've reached the bottom. I walk Katniss to her bed and lay her down. But she won't let go of my neck.

"Katniss?" I whisper.

"don't leave me, okay?" she whisper-asks, groggily. Hmm, that was the exact same thing she said to me when she first slept over at my house. I bet she's too groggy right now to remember, though. So I climb into her bed in my pajamas and she curls up next to me.

TIME PASSES

"_Oooohhhhh_," I hear the next morning. I open my eyes. Prim is standing at the foot of the bed, staring at me and Katniss. I look at Katniss. She's sleeping.

"You slept in Katniss's bed?" Prim immediately asks, whispering.

I chuckle. "Well, good morning to you, too," I say, also whispering.

KATNISS'S POV

I wake up to hear whispering. My eyes hurt, so I keep them shut a bit. I pick up the voices -- they belong to Gale and Prim. What are _they_ whispering about?

"Do you love her?" Prim asks, probably referring to me. _God, Prim, shut up would'ja?_, I think. But I want to hear what Gale has to say in response.

There's a hesitation from Gale. _Hellooo?_, I think, _Yes or no?_

"Well, I that's kind of-" Gale begins.

"Ahem. That's a yes or no answer," Prim demands. I would have laughed at her bossy tone, but I'm supposed to be asleep.

"Yes," Gale whispers.

"What?"

"Yes!" he whispers louder.

"Are you getting marri-" Prim starts to ask, but I yawn, alerting them I'm waking up. I don't want Gale to feel too awkward having to answer all of Prim's stupid questions. Well, not stupid. Gale told her he loved me, but even though he told me that himself, it feels almost even more special because he's telling other people how he feels about me. Wait, does that even make sense? Whatever, I'm still half-way asleep.

Gale kisses me on the temple, and my eyes flutter open. I just barely see Prim running away around the corner.

"Morning," I say to Gale. He kisses my jaw, right under my ear. I smile and blush. Why does Gale make me smile like an idiot like that? He's, like, my best friend. He _is_ my best friend.

"Good morning," he says back.

"Good morning to you guys, too," says a voice that sounds like Gale's mom. We jump out of the bed, blushing, as we get dressed. Gale's mom laughs, which makes me blush harder.


	17. Hunger

**GALE'S Pov**

**After breakfast, which was ½ a piece of bread for everybody, we split up to look for an exit. Katniss and I saved ½ of our portion of bread to give to our siblings after breakfast. Actually, I ate 1/6 a piece of bread, saved another 1/6 for Timmy, then saved the last 1/6 of it for Katniss. I was always good at math.**

"**Katniss. Take it," I say, holding out the bread. How else could I say it? Katniss just stares at it. "No."**

"**Katniss. Please," I beg. If she doesn't make it out of here alive, I couldn't live with myself.**

"**No! Keep it!" she exclaims.**

"**Katniss, please, just eat it. You have to eat **_**something**_**," I plead with her.**

**She shakes her head. "You have to eat something, too. Besides, I already ate my portion."**

**I knew we would have this problem. Katniss's pride is worth everything to her. **_**Worth more than her life?**_**, the negative side of my brain says, and I shoo it away. Anyways, let's face it: I have probably double the amount of muscle that Katniss has. My body could feed off that, if our starving really got that bad. But if I said that aloud, Katniss would definitely refuse the bread. Instead, I break the bread in half, now 1/12. I hold one of it out to Katniss.**

"**at least take this much," I insist. She stares at the bread. Her stomach betrays herself, and it growls loudly. She clutches her stomach, and her eyes squint in frustration. Or pain. **

"**Fine," she mumbles, taking the bread. We eat our share at the same time. Then we spilt up and continue searching.**

**TIME PASSES**

**It's the next day and our hope is dwindling faster than our food stash. We split a bruised apple between the 6 of us. Talk about a breakfast. But Katniss and I keep spliting our rations with our siblings. The hunger pains in my stomach has at least dwindled into a small pain that only grows when I focus on it. Katniss and I are talking back and forth to each other while we keep searching the cave room. **

"**We'll find it today," I say, groping a crevice, "I just know it." Katniss sighs and I turn around. She's clutching her stomach again. It hurts me probably as much as she's hurting right now to see her in that kind of pain. I can almost feel my heart breaking off into more tiny pieces with each passing day. I turn back around to face my wall. "I wonder how Peeta's doing," I say outloud, just trying to keep the conversation going. I usually hate bringing up Peeta's name. (Author's Note: Haha, an Author's Note within the story. Nice, huh? Lol. Okay, yes, I **_**will**_** mention how Peeta survived the meteor shower (Yes, Peeta survives) later on, probably in a chapter or two. Now, back to the story.) **But I don't hear Katniss say anything. Hmm, does she hate Peeta now? I smile. I peek at Katniss to see what she's doing, and my smile vanishes.

Katniss is on the ground, hair splayed around her precious face. I sprint over to her, and kneel next to her body. A string of curses run through my head. I feel her pulse at her wrist. Slow, but still going. I lower my ear to her mouth. I can hear her breathing in raspy, shallow breaths. 

"Mom!" I shout. My voice echoes in the cave, and everybody is here in a second. 

"Katniss!" Prim cries, and throws herself onto Katniss's body. I gently push her off Katniss.

We carry Katniss to the "bedroom" and place it on the most padded, comfortable bed -- which happens to be mine. Not that I care. I'd do practically anything for Katniss.

After her mom does a series of… medical tests, she declares that Katniss fainted from hunger. So we get her ½ a slice of bread, and a big cup of water. 

"Water fills the stomach," her mom explains. She sets the food and drink on the ground next to my bed and puts her hands on her hips.

"Somebody needs to wait here for Katniss to wake up, so we can be sure Katniss eats," Katniss's mom explains.

"I'll do it," I say immediately. Mom peeks at me and gives me a knowing look. I quickly look away and pretend I don't know what she's talking about.

"Alright," her mom says. Then everybody splits back up again, and I kneel next to Katniss. I take her hand and begin to wait for her to wake up. 

After an hour, I think, my knees go numb, so I lean against the dirt wall. The wall shakes, and a crack appears. I jump away from the wall, and a sliver of light shines from the crack. I take a stick and start poking at the dirt. The crack keeps widening but it takes a while. I peer inside the crack and see… more rocks. But at least there's light coming from beyond.

"Guys!" I call, and everybody rushes over. 

TIME PASSES

It's been about a ½ hour since I found the crack. Everybody has been working to get it wide enough for us to crawl through, and we've made good progress -- the crack is now 6 inches wide and 6 inches high. Actually, _I'm_ not helping dig at all. I'm feeding Katniss her bread and water. We had moved her back to her old bed to get her out of the way for digging.

After helping Katniss get another sip of water, I stroke her cool forehead, and whisper, "Don't worry, Katniss. It looks like we're finally getting out of here."


	18. Results

Katniss's POV

I sit up, light-headed, and I walk slowly over to the ever growing hole in the wall. So close. So close to getting out of here. I help dig.

TIME PASSES

The hole is finally big enough that we can crawl through! Well, that _some_ of us can crawl through. Namely me, Gale, Prim, and Timmy. I slide through the gap first.

I'm in a huge pit, with bumpy rock walls all the way up to the top. I'm standing on a huge meteor. I guess it must have struck the ground, leaving this pit. I turn around and help Prim through the hole. Once Gale, Prim, Timmy, and I are standing on the meteor, we start digging to help our moms out.

GALE'S POV

Our moms are finally out. We move to the walls, looking for a place to start climbing out. The walls are relatively smooth except for a few random rocks.

Out moms start helping each other climb up one side, while Timmy and Prim are holding hands and climbing up thick tree roots.

"gale!" Katniss exclaims, "Can you help me reach this rock?" Her hand is extended towards a smooth-looking rock sticking out of the wall. So I lift her onto my shoulders, and she grabs the rock. I step back and watch her. But the rock crumbles out from the dirt, and with a small yelp, Katniss free-falls towards the ground. I catch her, and place Katniss back on the ground.

"Let's try over here," I say, pointing to an elaborate maze of vines and tree roots climbing up the pit wall. Katniss can't quite reach the first vine, so I lift her by the waist until she grabs a hold of it. We climb side by side for just 5 minutes, until we're at the top. Soon everybody else is at the top, too.

Katniss and I are walking a little farther ahead of the others, and we see the animals first. Katniss shrieks and points.

It's the animals we had caught hunting, the animals that we had also dropped to escape the meteor shower. A giant meteor is crushing the dead bodies, and the guts are spilled out all over the grass. I guess the animals... popped when they were hit. Gross. Maggots and other worms are tunneling in the rotting meat, and as we walk by, we can smell decaying flesh.

I put my arm around Katniss's waist because I can tell she's grossed out, and I hear a tiny grunt from behind us. I look over my shoulder. Mom. She holds her arm to her side, imitating my arm around Katniss's waist. Then she raises her arm to imitate an arm around some shoulders. So I move my arm to around Katniss's shoulders. Mom nods as Katniss leans her head against my shoulder. I smile at Mom. Since when has she been giving me girl advice?

It doesn't matter because we've finally arrived at the city. Our siblings went to go see the school, our moms went to see our homes, and Katniss and I went to see Peeta. Rows of destroyed houses line the streets, and we finally reach the baker's house. Katniss knocks on the door. Surprisingly, there's little damage to the little home. Peeta answers the door and his eyes light up.

"Katniss! You're safe!" Peeta exclaims, wrapping Katniss in a hug. Once the hug is reaching it's second minute of straight hugging, I "cough" into my fist. Katniss pulls away from Peeta, and Peeta glares at me.

"Glad to see you're safe too," I say coldly to Peeta. He nods stiffly. Obviously there's still some tension between us.

**Author's Note: Thanks for everybody's commenting and faving!! I had to cut this chapter short so I could start working on my new story, The 75th Hunger Games, which features Gale and Katniss in the next year's Hunger Games. Don't worry, I'll still be working on this story, but I may not write so many chapters so fast. But the chapters will still come! So stay posted. Thanks!!!**


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